IP Consulting and Services – Director IT

Client is the world’s largest supplier of intellectual property (IP) services, and technical competitive intelligence products and services, which target a wide range ofsectors including: semiconductors, consumer electronics, investment, legal, medical devices, automotive, clean technology, and software. The company helps IP owners maximize the value of their patents through portfolio assessment, understanding cross-market applicability, and advising on development, assertion and divestment strategies.

Client possesses the world’s most comprehensive technical body of knowledge gained from a quarter century of reverse engineering excellence in semiconductors, electronics, and software. The company’s experts in understanding and mapping technology to patents have helped clients, including over half of the top 50 US patent holders, get the most from their IP assets. The company services its global footprint of clients with offices in: North America (Ottawa; Austin, Texas; San Jose, California); Europe (Poland, Israel,); and Asia (China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea).

Position Scope
The primary responsibility of the Director of IT is to support the firm’s business objectives through leadership of a team which: develops, maintains, evolves, and optimizes a variety of Information Systems (IS)/business applications and their associated infrastructure, as well as delivers cost effective, reliable, and responsive IT services to the company’s user community which meet or exceed defined service level agreements.

The Director of IT plans, coordinates, directs, and designs all operational activities of the IT department, as well as provides direction and support for IT solutions that enhance mission-critical business operations. They work closely with decision makers in other departments to identify, recommend, develop, implement, and support cost-effective technology solutions for all aspects of the organization, as well as liaise with the company’s US, European, and Asian office resources to help ensure regional IT requirements are met.

Position Location and Travel
This position is located at the company’s corporate headquarters in Ottawa. Minimal travel is required.

Functional Tasks
Individually or through leading the team, the Director of IT will:

Strategic & Operational Planning

• Formulate and implement strategic, and corresponding operational plans, for acquiring and enabling efficient and cost-effective IT/IS, which include plans for the transition from fully custom, to off-the shelf and/or customized cloud-based solutions where appropriate
• Manage IT department strategic and operational planning including: business requirements, project planning, and organizing and negotiating resource allocation
• Develop IT departmental budgets ensuring compliance with business goals, objectives, and guidelines
• Develop and implement IT policies and procedures, amongst those include: architecture, security, storage and disaster recovery, internal IT control standards, purchasing, service provision, and service level agreements

Human Resource Management & Internal Communications

• Lead the IT team, including recruitment, supervision, scheduling, development, & performance mgmt
• Establish and maintain regular written and in-person communications with the organization’s executives, department heads, and end users regarding pertinent IT activities
• Define and communicate project milestones, service level agreements, and resource allocation to executive team, department leads, support staff, and end users
• Ensure the appropriate IT infrastructure is in place to support the business, as well as plans to enable its continued growth; both based on approved business cases
• Develop and monitor key IT/IS metrics and benchmark performance to determine operating costs, productivity levels, and upgrade requirements
• Direct research on potential technology solutions and implementations in support of new initiatives, opportunities, procurement efforts, and growth plans
• Authorize and oversee the deployment, monitoring, maintenance, development, and support of all hardware and software based on departmental needs and approved expenditures
• Ensure the financial and configuration mgmt of all departmental hardware and software solutions
• Develop bid requirements for all hardware and software upgrades, review submitted bids for compliance with stated requirements, and recommend the appropriate awards
• Oversee the negotiation and administration of: vendor outsourcing, consultant contracts, and service agreements, working with other stakeholders as appropriate
• Manage the repair and return of IT/IS equipment, working with other internal resources as required

Business Application Development & Support

• Develop, maintain, evolve, and optimize business applications based on off-the-shelf, customized and custom software, in line with the market’s movement toward cloud-based applications
• Where appropriate, work with providers to configure applications to ensure solutions align with business processes, tactical planning, and strategic vision

Help Desk & Other Support Services

• Ensure the setup of client systems (e.g. laptops, tablets, desktops, workstations, servers, printers, scanners, handheld devices, etc.) and the administration of required changes
• Provide help desk and technical support services (1st and 2nd line) to troubleshoot and address hardware, software, and network issues, in line with internal service level agreements while managing escalation as appropriate

Preferred Education and Experience

• University degree in IT/IS combined with 10+ years of related work experience
• Master’s IT/IS degree or an MBA with technology as a core component are assets
• 5+ years of experience managing an IT team and operation
• Strong understanding of human resource management principles, practices, and procedures
• Expert level technical knowledge of current and emerging LAN/WAN IT/IS solutions, with direct experience with a range of IT/IS infrastructure, applications, and/or platforms such as: antivirus, backup and recovery, business applications, CMS, CRM, database & OS, ERP, firewall, helpdesk, reporting, security, servers, and storage
• Proven experience in IT/IS strategic and operational planning and policy development
• Solutions design & deployment experience from business req’ts analysis through to daily mgmt

Personal Attributes

• Technical strength combined with strong customer-facing and leadership skills
• Excellent written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills, including an ability to present ideas in a business and user-friendly manner
• Track record of exploring and implementing innovative solutions to improve IT/IS efficiency and effectiveness
• Demonstrated ability to work across a wide range of functional groups with differing requirements
• Highly self-motivated, self-directed, and attentive to detail with strong problem solving skills
• Ability to effectively prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment

Remuneration & Benefits
Salary, incentives, and benefit package are commensurate with experience and qualifications.

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